Aberdeen1-0 Inverness: Supersub Pawlett saves day for Dons as Butcher is left fuming

Published on Friday 29 April 2011 15:58

Aberdeen 1-0 Inverness CT Pawlett 75

With his first senior goal for the club, 20-year-old Peter Pawlett put an end to his season from hell by gaining three points for Aberdeen against a woeful Thistle.

The home side should have been out of sight at half-time, but it took the arrival of substitute Pawlett to get the goal. Nine minutes after he came on for Michael Paton, Aberdeen made yet another foray into the visitors' box and this time Pawlett was on hand to fire the ball high into the net with his left foot.

Pawlett dedicated the goal to his parents and the physios at the club who have helped him through recuperation from a serious toe injury. "I could do with the season going on a bit longer," said Pawlett, "but it's better that I got things fixed now. I want to be part of this next season."

There was a sad air around Pittodrie as news spread of the death of Eddie Turnbull, the club's manager from 1965 to 1971 who led the Dons to victory over Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final of 1970.

Current manager Craig Brown recalled Turnbull, saying that he was a "great coach of coaches" adding: "His passing is very sad for his family and Scottish football." Aberdeen will pay their own tribute to Turnbull at a future match.

The first ten minutes saw good end-to-end stuff with the best chance falling to Sone Aluko who turned his man inside the box and fired in a low shot which Ryan Esson dealt with succinctly.

At the other end, Alex McDonald pounced on a wayward ball that Aberdeen had failed to clear and fired in a dipper that went narrowly wide and left of the woodwork.

Referee George Salmond was admirable in wanting to cut out foul play, and booked Stuart Duff after 16 minutes for felling Aluko as the London-born Nigerian internationalist looked set to make a telling contribution.

A dead-ball situation seemed an increasingly probable way of gaining the goal that the game desperately needed, and when Aberdeen won a corner after 23 minutes, Zander Diamond came forward with obvious intention.

He went backwards with his tail between his legs, having headed wide the sitter of the season off Chris Maguire's corner that put him clear in space, bang in front of goal.

Paton's miss after 28 minutes was not quite in the Diamond category, but he should have done better than shoot wide of goal when he was clean through on goal.

Full marks to referee Salmond for letting play proceed and then remembering to book Kenny Gillet for the foul on Maguire who made the pass.

The visitors were largely under the cosh now, and on the few occasions they got forward, Jamie Langfield never appeared under pressure.In the 36th minute, with Caley Thistle toiling to create chances, Aberdeen showed their superiority in that department, even if it was not significant score-wise.

Maguire broke on the right and fired in a shot which cannoned off Esson's left hand post, and Paton's follow-up shot didn't quite hit the target.

Having somehow kept their goal intact, it seemed a certainty that Inverness would get forward more in the second half, but instead Aberdeen continued their pressure.

Ross Tokely was forced to clear a Ryan Jack effort off the line after captain-for-the-day Esson parried the shot upwards.

Shane Sutherland then almost put Inverness ahead, Jamie Langfield making a fine save. It would have been against the run of play, however, and Pawlett's goal gave Aberdeen a deserved win.

Craig Brown was pleased with the victory, pointing out that Aberdeen had won the match with a majority of young players. He said: "It would be a great team if it was an under-23 league or the Olympics, but we need a few men to come in."

Inverness were very poor, with really only one clear-cut chance in the match. Their manager Terry Butcher was so appalled that he said "action would be taken" when contract discussions started this week.

"I'm not having that," said Butcher. "It was absolute garbage.

"If anyone says 'I've had a great season' I'll stick the DVD of that (performance] up their backside. The only positive was that it was nice and sunny. I have a barbecue tomorrow, and I think I'll stick that match on it.

"We said at half time that he had got away with it, and we wanted to step it up in the second half but Jamie Langfield never broke sweat.

"It was the worst performance of the season, and I told them if you play like that against Celtic it will be 10-0."

Strong words from Butcher, the kind of scathing diatribe that former Dons boss Eddie Turnbull would have appreciated.

ABERDEEN

Langfield

Young

Diamond

Vujadinovic

Smith

Paton (66)

Jack

Milson

Aluko (88)

Blackman (66)

Maguire

Subs used

Pawlett (66)

Magennis (66)

Robertson (88)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Chris Maguire (Aberdeen)

Never stopped trying to go forward and was unlucky not to score.

TALKING POINT

Quality football on a good pitch in sunshine. Summer football anyone?

Referee: G Salmond. Attendance: 6,280

INVERNESS CT

Esson

Duff

Tokely

Munro

Gillet

Sutherland

Cox

Ross

Sutherland (76)

MacDonald (63)

Rooney

Subs used

Odhiambo (63)

Duncan (76)